F1: The Movie has hit the big screen, and one blink-and-miss-it scene that is sure to thrill watch fans is the cameo by IWC CEO Chris Grainger-Herr.

“I’m playing myself,” Grainger-Herr laughs. “Not that you’d be able to tell, because I don’t say anything apart from the usual word uttered by extras: ‘rhubarb’ — I now know that this is not an urban myth, it is actually what you say when you are in the background. It’s funny, it really does look like you are having a conversation when you do it.”

IWC watches star in F1 as supporting roles

Highly anticipated, F1 has had an extensive timeline largely due to its ambitious production methods. These involved training the actors to drive adapted Formula 2 cars at speeds up to 180 mph, developing special in-car cameras to pick up on their real emotions, and filming during real Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends over two seasons — beginning with the British Grand Prix in July 2023 and ending with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2024 — as opposed to shooting in studios and using CGI. If that didn’t cause enough challenges, there was also the issue of various Hollywood strikes by writers and actors that impacted the original filming schedule.

Damson Idris and IWC Schaffhausen CEO Chris Grainger-Herr with IWC Schaffhausen at the Goodwood Members Meeting in Goodwood on April 12, 2025 near Chichester, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for IWC)

The unprecedented action scenes should come as no surprise bearing in mind that the film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, known for his work on Top Gun: Maverick, which also used unique camera set-ups to achieve its acclaimed action sequences. Producers include Jerry Bruckheimer (who also worked on Top Gun: Maverick), seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, and cast member Brad Pitt. 

With Hamilton’s involvement, the production crew was able to secure access to the real F1 world, his advice on technical and competitive aspects of the sport ensuring accurate portrayals, while Mercedes-AMG Petronas adapted the Formula 2 cars to look like F1 cars for filming. This unprecedented expertise and on-location filming are expected to provide audiences with a highly immersive experience, showcasing the speed, G-forces, and intricate technical details of F1 like never before on screen.

The story centers around the fictional F1 team, APXGP. Struggling for a win, the team persuades veteran driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) to come out of retirement and mentor rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Adding to the realism of the APXGP team, it has its own set of ‘sponsors’ including IWC Schaffhausen which has its branding featured on the race cars, drivers’ suits, team uniforms, and within the garage. The Official Engineering Partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, which Hamilton drove for until moving to Ferrari in 2024, IWC’s role feels believable and authentic.

IWC watches are worn by key characters in the film — Pitt’s jaded Sonny Hayes wears a vintage IWC Ingenieur ref. 1832 with a custom green dial, while Idris’s flashy new kid on the block character, Joshua Pearce, chooses the 5N gold and black (APXGP’s livery) Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41. Both have influenced special edition releases in addition to two Pilot’s Watch Chronograph APXGP models in stainless steel in 41mm and 43mm, both with black dial, white numerals and golden minute markers, reflecting the APXGP team’s colors and with the APXGP team logo printed in gold on the caseback.

Brad Pitt wears an IWC Ingenieur SL 1832 watch with a custom green dial in the 2025 movie F1. (Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films)

Damson Idris with IWC Schaffhausen at the Goodwood Members Meeting in Goodwood on April 12, 2025 near Chichester, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for IWC)

“It made sense for us to be involved in the movie,” says Grainger-Herr. “We had worked closely with Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer on Top Gun: Maverick and loved how they operated — avoiding CGI and focusing on getting real action, which I like a lot. It struck me with Top Gun that it brings a sort of reality because you have all of the navy jets there, all the actual Top Gun pilots mixing with the actors and flying the planes in an extreme way. It stops being just a movie and becomes something that is actually tangible and real. The thought of being able to do this in a different universe was so interesting to me. It was a perfect line up — the director, the producer, then Mercedes got involved, Lewis got involved, Hans Zimmer got involved … it made so much sense for IWC to be involved, too.”

Grainger-Herr insists that IWC’s involvement runs a lot deeper than simply paying big bucks for product placement. “There have been many films we decided not to be part of because they either don’t fit the brand or are too generic. I like movies where something is happening in terms of engineering and in terms of storytelling that relates to us. For F1, the production team worked with Sony to develop an entire new generation of cameras that would not exist without this film and without Top Gun before it. And then for the actors to really drive the cars, on real circuits … This is engineering, imagination, it’s something that really contributes to filmmaking and really interests me and IWC.”

From left: IWC Schaffhausen CEO Chris Grainger-Herr, Jerry Bruckheimer, IWC Schaffhausen CMO Franziska Gsell and Hans Zimmer at the IWC Schaffhausen booth at Watches and Wonders Geneva on April 03, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by Remy Steiner/Getty Images for IWC)

“It is really a dream come true,” adds IWC’s Chief Marketing Officer Franziska A. Gsell. “We are now in our 12th season with Mercedes AMG and to bring that into this fictional APXGP team is just brilliant. So many people already know our brand through Formula One, and F1: The Movie will attract an even broader audience and a slightly different one — and then having the chance to make a sub-collection related to the movie and to use it to talk about our watches is really taking it full circle.

“It was Joe and Jerry, who we knew from Top Gun: Maverick, who approached us when they started to think about F1 — maybe four years ago now. Then Mercedes and Lewis came into the discussion, and then Hans Zimmer, and everything came so nicely together. They saw it as the ideal scenario because we are already working with a real team on sponsorship. We were able to mirror real life with our branding and supplying watches to the actors playing drivers, technicians and engineers.”

From left: Hans Zimmer, Jerry Bruckheimer, and IWC Schaffhausen CEO Chris Grainger-Herr present the collaboration between IWC and the Movie F1 at Watches and Wonders Geneva on April 03, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by Remy Steiner/Getty Images for IWC)

From left: Hans Zimmer, Jerry Bruckheimer, Steve Kofsky and IWC Schaffhausen CEO Chris Grainger-Herr at the IWC Schaffhausen booth at Watches and Wonders Geneva on April 03, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by Remy Steiner/Getty Images for IWC)

According to Grainger-Herr, close to 100 watches were supplied to the costume department of F1, so it shouldn’t be too hard for watch spotters to tick off an IWC. “Like any of these films, the production team has complete artistic freedom,” he says. “We do a pre-selection and send them in and after that it is down to the actors, the costume department and the director to decide who wears what — if at all. Of course, we know the pieces placed on the main characters — Brad’s vintage Ingenieur and Damson’s Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 — but it will be fun to see how many other pieces are worn by the APXGP team.”

For Gsell the project has been one of the biggest of her career. “The amount of logistical processes behind sending the amount of watches we did to the film set, travelling internationally to several countries crossing borders and customs was immense,” she says. “The journey started already with the strategic allocation of individual watches based on each of the movie’s characters which was also a big part of the process.

From left: Franziska Gsell, Chief Design Officer Christian Knoop, Chris Grainger-Herr, and actors Kerry Condon and Damson Idris, at the Goodwood Members Meeting in Goodwood on April 12, 2025 near Chichester, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for IWC)

“This is a big moment for IWC. The timeframe is short, but the reach is big and we are activating globally across all markets. The challenge comes in synchronizing all territories during this short window with the theatrical release. It wasn’t easy, but we had fun doing it and are excited to see the outcome”. 

A new shade of green: Brad Pitt’s Ingenieur gets a fresh finish

From new to old, the much publicized Ingenieur worn by Brad Pitt’s character was a vintage 1976 model that was customised with a sage green dial and given a new slim-line case. According to Grainger-Herr, the actor was behind this new look. 

Image: Revolution ©

“As far as I know, Brad sent a very detailed email request,” he says. “He really knows his stuff when it comes to  watches, and he loved the original Ingenieur ref. 1832. He asked for his to be half as thick as the original, which was an interesting challenge for us to reconfigure the watch. We took the movement out of the case and removed the soft iron cage that was used for magnetic resistance. We made a new case and caseback but we didn’t have to touch the movement itself. And then Brad referred us to Cloister Watch Company in New York and, in the end, they did all of the surface finishing of the piece.”

Although the model turned out to be the inspiration for a hugely successful contemporary limited-edition Ingenieur Automatic 40 of 1,000 pieces, did it feel counter-intuitive to alter an original in that way? “You know, I always think that watches that are props in movies kind of develop their own heritage in the end,” Grainger-Herr says with thought. “So I don’t feel that it was a waste to convert the pieces — there were actually two, because you always need backup. Hollywood never runs on one.

 

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“When we saw that the color that was coming out of the process we loved it because it was unique — not a racing green but something new. And then we discussed with Cloister Watch Company and Brad’s team about licensing it and we tried it on an Ingenieur prototype. It just looked very cool. I’ve seen tons of greens in the watch industry and this is a hue that’s different from anything else. It’s not the last time that you will see it …”

As for why IWC wanted to be a part of the movie, Grainger-Herr says it is about contextualizing the watches into something that triggers an emotional feeling. “Obviously it makes our job explaining what the watch represents a whole lot easier. On its own, it’s a tachymeter scale or a chronograph — it’s been done before. But if you’re energizing it with this entire world built around it — from the storytelling to the glamor that comes with it — the message becomes infinitely easier to explain earlier on. 

IWC at Goodwood Members’ Meeting 2025

From left: Jerry Bruckheimer, Toto Wolff & George Russell

“It’s a unique opportunity to show the connection between sport and time and also with a relatively young collection, like the Performance Chronograph, we can only rely on current events to promote it. We are lucky when something iconic happens like Lewis winning the final Silverstone GP for Mercedes, wearing the watch, lifting the trophy with a flag draped around his shoulders. That moment will go down in history and it features our watch. It’s about creating legacy moments, and the same will happen with the F1 movie. If we’re lucky, there will be a signature scene where there is good visibility of an IWC — then we are creating future legitimacy and authenticity of the watch. It takes time, but these elements come together to build a legacy.”

F1: The Movie is released in cinemas worldwide from 25 June.